One song was synonymous with NBA Basketball throughout the 1990s: Roundball Rock by John Tesh

In 1988, John Tesh, then known as Yanni's Keyboardist and the co-host of Entertainment Tonight, was covering Le Tour De France. While in his Parisian hotel room, Tesh spontaneously conceived of the melody of a possible NBA theme song and recorded his first draft on his answering machine [yt].

My husband and I still "sing" this before/during every NBA game. It just SOUNDS like basketball! And now it will be in my head allllll daaaaay.

(This is a great post, by the way.)posted by sc114 at 6:37 AM on April 9, 2012

"Roundball Rock" brilliantly captures the cultural zeitgeist of the last of the peak years of American prosperity before the Unites States' slow, agonizing, inexorable decline as a Chinese debtor state.

One can't help feel but hopeful during the crescendo/decrescendo; an aural embodiment of Michael Jordan's sheer majesty, a dead to rights representation of the American Id, or "We will succeed no matter what the cost"posted by Renoroc at 6:42 AM on April 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow. Every time I see live footage of a John Tesh performance I'm reminded that he actually exists. I mean -- wtf?

That said, the Jordan era was amazing. I'm not a big basketball fan, but everybody I know used to gather for Bulls playoff games.posted by bardic at 6:59 AM on April 9, 2012

John Tesh's fistpumping during his concerts always amuses me so much as he segues into his lite-jazz-rock-whateverthefuckitis. He's genuinely going "YEAH!" as he dinkles across the piano. It's just so incongruous.posted by mightygodking at 7:42 AM on April 9, 2012

As a kid, I always thought John Tesh's Tour de France themes were super cool.

I also thought Mannheim Steamroller was super cool, and listened to Fresh Aire I-VI a LOT.

These phenomena strike me as not-unrelated.posted by pts at 8:21 AM on April 9, 2012

Video-game filler music. I recognize it of course, but I wouldn't have been able to sing/hum it. It's inane and instantly forgettable--like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDjt9DRPhCI">Mennen, ESPN, etc.--duh duh da da duh da duh da.

I'm sure just as many people associate this song with the Final Four now. Ugh.

This is a fantastically sourced post, but god I hated Michael Jordan and likewise hated the NBA in the '90s, so I'm clicking none of it.posted by mrgrimm at 9:02 AM on April 9, 2012

In contrast to mrgrimm (eponysterical and all that, too), I don't have to click the link at all to call the song to mind. I became quite obsessed with the NBA from about 1991 to 1996 or so. I looked in the newspaper for the boxscores every day. I lived about 2.5 hours from the Indiana Pacers, but in Kentucky, which is all-college-basketball all the time. Somehow I loved (and still love) the NBA.

I sometimes spontaneously "sing" the song even without specifically thinking of the NBA. I should play it for my students at the start of class, come to think of it.posted by Slothrop at 10:00 AM on April 9, 2012

Just to emphasize one of the links in the FPP, Conan did a sketch so funny that someone was inspired to recreate it when they couldn't track down the original.

Sort of like the Rolling Stones with the Blues.posted by whuppy at 11:17 AM on April 9, 2012

What's crazy is that I didn't even know I knew what that song was, but just reading about it I could HEAR the damned thing. Watched one of the links to be sure.posted by papercake at 11:29 AM on April 9, 2012

I f'n love John Tesh.

I always thought this song sounded like a Teshified version of "Move on Up" by Curtis Mayfield. But hearing it again, now, I think I was wrong about that.posted by cell divide at 11:42 AM on April 9, 2012

One of the biggest assholes in sports, imo. Sure, he was good. So what?

Regardless of what he did to his wife and kids, he was the kind of guy who would sucker punch or hard foul you in practice if you pissed him off.

I hate those fucking guys. I don't care how good you are.

And then there was his HOF speech, which was pretty bizarre but also pretty assholish.

And this Straight Dope thread hints that he was cheap with strippers, another rumor I've heard elsewhere.

His refusal to admit how good his championship teammates were, etc.

All of his juvenile, selfish behavior was tolerated, even lauded sometimes, because he could win basketball games.

I find it pretty funny that LeBron James is castigated as this evil NBA asshole, when Michael Jordan fit that role perfectly. ... Count the rings, baby!posted by mrgrimm at 2:32 PM on April 9, 2012

NBC were good at packaging the sport. Court Surfing covers more games and with the NBA effectively spread over a bunch of channels, I have access to more games than ever. That said, nobody broadcasts as well these days. In 1996/97, it was gripping to watch the start of the third with Chicago down by five.posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 2:40 PM on April 9, 2012

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